How Did Betty Bop Trying To Do During The Great Depression

Entertain The Pain!

America’s most fearful nightmare brewed like a horror film coming to life in the1930s. Families starved, unemployment rate skyrocketed in a short amount of time and the stock market crash in 1929. Society as a whole suffered greatly, as the 1930s was known to be the hardest time in American history. Despite the grim decade, music ruled the young and old. In 1938 a traffic of young teens stood in line in front of Paramount Theater to see the ultimate song, “Sing, Sing, Sing” from Benny Goodman (Hard Times, the 30s 136). From dance, icons to entertainment, and famous literary works influenced the nation to keep on fighting strong even in those grim times.

During the battles of the Great Depression dancing still remained

Some of the icons that ruled the nation in the 1930s were Betty Boop, a cartoon character and a famous actress, Jean Harlow. Although Betty Boop was created in the 20s by Grim Natwick, her fame rose high in the 1930s. There were more than 100 episodes produced in a year. Betty was also recreated into dolls and toys. Women saw Betty as a very provocative icon and protested to ban her from being shown on T.V broadcast in 1937. Soon after Betty’s show was canceled her fame came to an end (Hoffman and Bailey 41). However, Betty Boop was not the only icon that had sex appeal; so did Jean Harlow whose real name is Harlean Carpenter. She was also known as a sex-icon and an “able-comedian” according to men. Harlow was featured in many movies. Some of them are: The Public Enemy, Platinum Blonde, Dinner at Eight, China seas, and Libeled Lady (“Jean Harlow”). The biggest movie that brought Harlow to fame was Hell’s Angel, a film about a drama that took place during World War I. Another big contributor that helped Harlow’s rise of fame was a man named Howard Hughes, who casted her as the main role in Hell’s Angel. Harlow’s most famous line in the movie was, “Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?” (Rovi). She was not only recognized for her acting skills and sex appeal, but also her platinum blonde hair. That is why the media gave her the nickname, “Platinum Blonde”. She became the symbol of the thirties from her rising fame (Unstead 52). Harlow’s death was a mystery to the media. Her cause was an enigma until the truth was spoken out. Harlow’s hair was not naturally platinum blonde that girls tried to achieve but never could. The Reason why? Harlow’s personal hair stylist, Alfred Pagano used peroxide, ammonia, Clorox, and Lux flakes to achieve the desired color. As she kept repetitively dying her hair, Harlow started to bald and turned to wearing wigs instead. The continuous obsession of